


Dancing with Fire Extinguishers

by remreader



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, Movie Night, Post-Iron Man 2, Pre-Avengers (2012), WALL-E (2008) References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-30 18:32:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17833898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remreader/pseuds/remreader
Summary: Tony, Pepper, and the bots watch WALL-E. It makes for an eventful movie night.





	Dancing with Fire Extinguishers

**Author's Note:**

> Um, there are spoilers for WALL-E in this, in case that's a deal-breaker for anyone :)

Tony Stark loved movies about robots. Not so much the big dramatic sci-fi films, with robots or artificial intelligence wreaking havoc on humanity - those were fine for a bit of entertainment but they didn't capture his heart and he was far too fond of machines to consider them seriously as cautionary tales. No, that wasn't the type of robot movie Tony loved. He'd dragged Rhodey to go see _Short Circuit_ three times when they were at M.I.T. and they'd even tried to build their own “Number 5” as a friend for the newly constructed DUM-E. It didn't even have to be robots, honestly - _The Brave Little Toaster_ had left Tony sobbing and Rhodey marveling at his friend's infinite capacity to bond and empathize with machines, even (animated) (fictional) household appliances. And a puzzled Pepper, relatively newly employed as Tony's P.A., had assumed it must be some sort of coded request she didn't understand yet when Tony asked her to buy out a theater so he could see _The Iron Giant_ without paparazzi bothering him.

So it's no surprise that _WALL-E_ was a movie Tony had been looking forward to seeing for a long time. But between Afghanistan, becoming Iron Man, and the whole palladium situation...there had just never been a good time. But now? Tony was finally in a good place, he wasn't dying, and now that he was happily dating Pepper he had the perfect excuse to take a night off from tinkering and upgrading his suits to watch a movie with her. (And the bots, obviously. He wasn't about to watch a movie about a scrappy little robot _without_ his bot children.)

* * *

“So why are we watching this down in your workshop instead of in the movie room? Don't you have a giant projector screen specifically for situations like this?”

“Oh, it's just a whole ordeal to get DUM-E and U over there, I figured we'd make do with the television in the lab.” Tony shrugged. “Besides, the couch down there is comfier anyway.”

“Ah, I didn't realize the kids were invited to our date night,” Pepper teased.

Tony tried not to make it _too_ obvious how pleased he was at Pepper referring to the bots as the (their?) kids. “Yep! We're having a family movie night. Strictly PG.”

“PG? Well isn't that just too bad...” Pepper grinned and trailed a finger down Tony's arm in a way that sent a pleasant shiver down his spine before turning on her heel and heading off down the stairs to the workshop.

“It's still going to be romantic!” Tony called after her, somewhat desperately, “It's a love story!”

“Wow,” he whispered in quiet awe as soon as Pepper had fully disappeared down the stairs. He rubbed the arm she'd touched with a slightly dazed look on his face.

“I don't know what you're so concerned about, sir,” JARVIS commented dryly, “we've all seen you in a truly dazzling array of compromising situations, countless times.”

“You insult me, JARVIS,” Tony retorted with a smirk. “I'm pretty sure I programmed you with the ability to count.” He paused before hurrying down the stairs after Pepper. “Um, don't though. Thanks, J.”

* * *

Down in the workshop/temporary movie theater, Pepper was looking on in amusement from her place on the couch as the bots scrambled to get everything ready for movie night. U was making popcorn while DUM-E scooted around trying to pick up all the pieces that had flown out of the popcorn popper (U _might_ have forgotten to actually put the lid on…), rolling over most of them in the process.

“Really, guys?” Tony commented exasperatedly as he entered the room, “We haven't even started and you're already making a mess? Disasters, both of you.”

“Oh, be nice,” Pepper scolded, pulling Tony down onto the couch with a laugh. “They're trying.”

“Yeah, trying my patience,” he grumbled, completely unconvincingly.

Pepper ruffled Tony's hair playfully to get him to give up on the grumpy act and then curled up against him, head resting on his chest. “Why don't you just start the movie, honey?”

* * *

 _WALL-E_ was a hit right from the start.

U caused a minor commotion early on by flipping the popcorn bowl over to use as a top hat like WALL-E was doing on the screen with a Frisbee, dumping popcorn all over Tony and Pepper as he did so.

Pepper liked M-O, the cute little cleaner bot, best, and Tony immediately started drawing up plans in his head to build one for her, a little robot friend to scoot around her office and keep her company at work.

For his part, Tony LOVED all the chaotic disaster bots that WALL-E inadvertently rescued from the robot hospital. Sure, they were all _technically_ broken, and they made one hell of a mess of the spaceship, but they were still good bots. Just like his DUM-E and U.

* * *

WALL-E and EVE danced across the starry night in a swirl of fire extinguisher foam and blue light, and if Tony slipped his hand under Pepper's shirt just a _little_ bit when she snuggled in closer to him, well that was still PG- _13_ at least and the bots were too focused on the movie to be paying attention to them anyway.

“See,” he whispered, giving Pepper a quick kiss on the forehead, “I told you it was a love story.”

“Mhmm,” Pepper hummed contentedly.

Then she giggled. “Um, I think DUM-E might be getting a little _too_ interested though…” The bot in question was beeping excitedly and swiveling back and forth between the television and the corner of the lab where the fire extinguisher sat.

“Uh-uh. Nope. Don't even think about it, DUM-E,” Tony said quickly. “That trick only works in zero-g.” The bot lowered its claw arm dejectedly. “Oh don't look at me like that! You play with that fire extinguisher way too much as it is, and I don't need you wrecking even more of my stuff tonight.”

* * *

The movie continued on, and they watched as AUTO, the captain's trusted robot lieutenant, mutinied and was revealed to have been sabotaging the captain and the bots the whole time.

Tony shifted uncomfortably and drummed his fingers nervously on the edge of the arc reactor casing. Pepper could feel his heart starting to race as AUTO electrocuted WALL-E and sent the broken robot tumbling down a garbage chute, realizing with a sinking feeling that this was all probably hitting a bit too close to home.

“It's going to be okay, Tony.” Pepper said softly, and maybe it wasn't just the broken robot on the screen that she was talking about. She turned her head to look up at him, holding her gaze until his anxious brown eyes met her steady blue ones. “You know that, right?” She took his hand that was still fidgeting with the arc reactor and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"Yeah." Tony let out a slightly shaky breath, "I know."

* * *

Pepper kept Tony's hand held tight in hers through the rest of the movie, and she smiled knowingly to herself as they watched all the bots and humans whose lives WALL-E had touched work together to help the little robot.

Predictably, Tony teared up when it looked like WALL-E might be gone even though his body had been fixed, and then even more when EVE saved the little bot with a kiss. Pepper was just leaning in to give Tony a kiss of his own when they were both, along with half the room, hit with a blast of foam as DUM-E tried (and failed) to use his fire extinguisher to perform a pirouette.

“Ugh, seriously?!” Tony groaned, trying futilely to wipe the foam out of Pepper's hair while she laughed into his shirt, “I told you that wouldn't work in here! Zero-g, you maniacal machine, _zero-g_! U, make yourself useful and grab a mop.”

“Come on,” Pepper said, still giggling at the ridiculous scene. She grabbed Tony's hand and pulled him towards the door. “Shower, now.”

Tony had to concede that maybe this wasn’t the _worst_ way to end a movie night, even if they were covered in a gross mix of popcorn and fire extinguisher foam. And maybe there was room to add a zero-g chamber into the designs for the new Stark Tower they were starting work on in New York. For testing spaceflight-capable Iron Man suits, obviously. Definitely not so DUM-E could have a chance to dance.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this started as a headcanon about DUM-E and his fondness for fire extinguishers but it turns out I have a lot more thoughts about WALL-E and Tony Stark than I thought I did!


End file.
